The back glass on my '04 was shattered by vandalism about a year ago. It was replaced at a reputable glass shop. Shotly after I noticed carpeting in trunk was very wet. I retuned car to glass shop. Sonic tester was used showing no leaks around window seal. (I witnessed). In order to satisfy me, the glass was removed, new gasket installed, and glass replaced again. After a heavy rain, there was water in the trunk again! My insurance co. had me take the car to another shop for another replacement.
Every thing was o.k. for awhile and now I am finding dampness again. Now the insurance co. is sueing first glass shop to recover payment, saying they did shoddy work. I have always had a friendly relationship with these people, as they have done work for me for some time. I have read several post pertaining to "water in trunk" on older models, do these same factors apply to '04 models? I have taken car back to dealer I purchased from, and as soon as they find out glass has been replaced, they say that'* where it'* coming from. I'm open to any info I can return to dealer with.

Although I'm not super familiar with the 00+, I know enough about their leak history to say that they are somewhat different than the 92-99. The earlier generation leaked between the rear window seal and the glass, not between the seal and the body. It'* a slow wicking type of leak that can be fixed easily by applying a small bead of clear or black rtv along the bottom edge and up the sides about 6" or so, sealing the glass to the seal. Other points of entry on the older generation can be the power antenna or taillights. Trunk seals are rarely a problem.

Don't rule out condensation, although with the carpet pad on the underside of the trunk lid, this is much less of a problem.

Carefully inspect your trunk seal for rips or tears, or dips and gaps where the water may wick around the lid and leak OVER the seal, particularly on the ege adjacent to the rear window seal, and give some time for some of the other 00-05 leak victims to chime in. You may also want to try the RTV trick in the meantime. It couldn't hurt, and can be a good troubleshooting method for ruling that out.

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I see from your location that you are very near some great experts in that body style. Rogue (one of our Gearheads) and BadSSEi (one of our Recognized Vendors) both live and work in Westerville. Rogue and his wife have a pair of 2000'*, and work with them every day. www.intense-racing.com is very familiar with them as well, so you have some great local resources to help you find your leak.

Welcome to BC, sunshine. I believe the unibody on the 04 is identical to the 00-03. Also, the dealerships are not always right in their asessments of where the source of the trunk leak may be. On the first rain after my dealer "fixed" my trunk leak, I had water in the trunk. I took it upon myself to find the source of the leak & then returned it back to dealer for an application body seam sealer in a certain location, the leak issue was resolved. Where specifically is the trunk most wet? Is the spare tire well filled with any rain water? I'll follow up. Just answer those two questions the best you can. We may be able to narrow this down. It may very well not be the rear window seal that is leaking.

Thanks for the replys! Mark, the carpeting on passenger'* side way in the back is soaked today. We have had 3 days of rain in a row, and car sets outside at present. The spare tire well is dry.

Well this is what I'm thinking. And all this hinges on how adept you are & how much you are willing to do on your own (no dealer yet). If you would empty your trunk of all contents, then remove the trunk floor matting/carpet whatever, then remove the interior panels on all four sides. This is all fairly simple to do also. Now that the trunk is stripped down to bare-bones, what you're looking at is the unibody panels & seams that form the trunk. Ensure that the trunk is completely dry, deck lid open. Take a one liter bottle of tap water and pour it carefully down into the drainage trough or channel on the right side of the trunk outside the trunk seal. The water will run down towards the right side tail light assembly into a little gap where it will just flow out the bottom of the car through the rear bumper cover area. While this is all taking place, look inside that area that was wet to look for any evidence of water droplets or water infiltration through a poorly sealed body seam. You follow me? You can even go into the back seat, open the pass through and view the whole operation from there. Have bright light with you.

sunshine, Did you ever figure that out?

My parent'* 2001 has a wet trunk. The seals look good. I'm going to try the proceedure you suggested then get back to you. I"m not the original poster. One more thing: if the warrenty has expired, will the dealer fix a bad seam seal?

dsh12, The dealership may or may not, depends on what kind of people they are. Did you buy the car at this particular dealer? Seam sealer is nothing more than a tar type substance that drys semi-hard. It is used extensively in the trunk area of the unibody, this is a convergance zone of many different plates that form the trunk pan & the spare tire well.

The water in the trunk of my parent'* 2001 has been resolved. It was the weather stripping; water was finding its way under the stripping then leaking into the trunk around the area of the trunk latch point. I pulled up the stripping and reapplied the sealent. Evidently it was entering in the upper part of the seal and backing up and spilling over under the seal into the trunk at the lower latch point. As a consequence, I also added sealent to the outter edge of the seal along the top and side.

Dan

Glad to hear you got that thing resolved. leaks can be a real headache to find, ask jr's3800. I've never heard of a trunk leak in that area on the 2000+ Bonnes